Contemplify Nonrequired Reading List Email for July 31, 2017
Contemplify Nonrequired Reading List Email for July 31, 2017
The July NonRequired Reading List
Dear Contemplifyers,
This edition of the NonRequired Reading includes philosopher-cowboys, the noonday demon and wisdom from Auschwitz. I'm not exactly sure how these readings came together for me this past month, but that tends to be the way it goes. I spent a night on the floor of the SeaTac airport in early July. My plane landed in the wee hours of the night and my next flight was at the crack of dawn. I found a quiet corner, turned CNN off on the TV above me and slept for a few uncomfortable hours. When I awoke, I was surrounded by people waiting for their flight. I was amazed at two things; the first was that someone was able to turn CNN back on without stepping on me; and second, that I was left to sleep. This entire crowd of people had created a space around this sleeping beauty (perhaps begrudgingly). I found this to be a very kind act in a very impersonal setting by a mass of people. My hope is that the hundred or so people who watched me wake up with a confused look on my sleep deprived face got a chuckle out of the scene as a kind thank you. Why do I share this here? Just another example of being befuddled by the circumstances of life and the potential to extract meaning out of it. With that, thanks for listening to the podcast, enjoy the July Readings.
Dude Ranch by Eric Benson and photographs by Sam Contis (Read it at California Sunday Magazine)
The philosopher-cowboy is born at Deep Springs College near Death Valley, CA. This photo essay on the two-year college gripped me not because of the current debate on whether it should be open to women too (my two cents is that it should), but because of the dynamic educational immersion of body and mind. The intersection of discussing Aristotle while on the rounds at the working cattle ranch is so far removed from any educational institution that is in my awareness. The photos of the life at Deep Springs relay the rough landscape these young men call home while flipping through Emily Dickinson or The Varieties of Religious Experience. Makes me happy to know that such a formal education still exists outside the purview of the academic echo chambers. Recommend this college to a young person looking for a different route, but also let them know that the acceptance rate can be as low as six percent...
Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks and a Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris (Get it at the Public Library or Amazon)
Acedia, or the 'noonday demon' as it is called, comes for all of us at some point. For some acedia presents itself and the immediate response is another pointless trip down Facebook lane, or a voyage to the store when nothing is needed or perhaps we fall deep into acedia and we stare off into space. However you experience acedia (or perhaps you haven't yet), this book could be of great help and perspective. Kathleen Norris is master weaver of memoir and theological meandering, finding both as existential markers for a well-lived life and is not shy about the darker corners of the spiritual journey. Rather than lumping acedia (the noonday demon) with depression, Norris gives the committed reader a serious look at both with one eye looking back towards the teachings of Evagrius Ponticus and Anthony the Great (By the way, I miss the days when theologians were given such nicknames). This is a personal book for Norris as she lays out in detail and detachment her husband's own struggle with clinical depression and her felt intimacy with acedia. In days such as our when words like 'depression' or 'feeling depressed' are a part of the common parlance, Norris helpfully adds the spiritual layer right alongside the psychological implications. This is done with Norris' signature humor, sincerity and vulnerable storytelling. With all of that said, this book is not for everyone but remember the title just in case it becomes a necessary read someday.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (Get it at the Public Library or Amazon)
If I could require one book for all high schoolers to read, this would be it. My imagination lights up with the thought that those whose identities are being formed could have Frankl's sage words from his horrid circumstances rattling around in their heads as they prepare for adulthood. You have likely read it, and know that Frankl was in Auschwitz and lost his family (including his pregnant wife) in the death camps. Surviving this immense suffering is remarkable, but Frankl found meaning in this suffering, the basis for what he would later called logothearpy with his patients. I first read Man's Search for Meaning 15 or so years ago and picked it up again because it is one of those books that refuses to leave you alone. The challenge is set in every life amidst any suffering, what is the meaning that gives me purpose no matter the conditions?
Contemplify Update
Contemplify is now on Twitter and Instagram (if you’re into that sort of thing, I’m still not sure I am). Click on the links to follow this grand experiment.The three most recent episodes of Contemplify…
(Bonus Episode! Voicemail Series Edition) Tasha Wahl on Discovering a God of Love in ‘The Shack’
Episode 35 Ecstatic Experiences for the Spiritually Mediocre with Jules Evans (Philosopher and Author of The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher’s Search for Ecstatic Experience)
Episode 034: The Wendell Berry Way of Seeing: Filmmaker Laura Dunn on ‘Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry’
(Available at iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, Overcast, Google Play or Contemplify.com)
Listen well + read often,
Paul
P.S. Have you ever read the poem 'This is Just to Say' by William Carlos Williams? So good.